Hopes rose that a three-year low in palm oil prices set on Monday represented a market bottom data showed Malaysia's inventories rising less than had been thought, sapped by a pick-up in exports which has continued this month.

Malaysia's palm oil inventories increased 1.1%, month on month, to 2.51m tonnes in October, setting a record high for a second successive month, the Malaysian Palm Oil Board said.

However, the growth was less than the 7.5% rise that investors had forecast – expectations of which helped send Kuala Lumpur palm oil futures down 4% to 2,220 ringgit a tonne in early deals on Monday, the lowest price since November 2009.

Supplies were sapped by a bigger-than-expected drop in production, as it past a seasonal high, at a time when exports, at 1.76m tonnes, far exceeded forecasts.